Lady Lilith  1867

by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Fascinated by women’s physical allure, Rossetti here imagines a legendary femme fatale as a self-absorbed nineteenth-century beauty who combs her hair and seductively exposes her shoulders. Nearby flowers symbolize different kinds of love. In Jewish literature, the enchantress Lilith is described as Adam’s first wife, and her character is underscored by lines from Goethe’s...
Size: 
97.8 × 85.1 cm (38.5 × 33.5 in)
Medium: 
Oil on canvas
Credit: 
Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art